Sauk County is the destination for visual artistry and culinary delights October 19–21, 2012. Artwork will be emerging amid the hills aglow with autumn color. Beside the Fall Art Tour’s stops in Baraboo and Spring Green and points between, the third weekend of October is also the grand finale of the Reedsburg Fermentation Fest, which begins Oct. 12.

The centerpiece of this 10-day festival that celebrates the culture of agriculture, arts and fermentation in all its forms is the Farm/Art DTour, a 50-mile self-guided road tour of ephemeral outdoor art exhibits in farm fields. Drive sections or make the loop, beginning in Reedsburg, 40 minutes northwest of the Inn at Wawanissee Point.

You’ll encounter installations like Fort Reedsburg, at stop 36, a collaboration by Vierbicher and Friede. It’s a 70-feet wide by 20-feet tall giant straw bale structure that uses a curved doorway to draw your eye to one of many rural viewsheds.

Professional artists from around the country and state, plus local landowners are beginning to build the 19 or so exhibits and farm forms. The purpose is to accentuate the artistry of the rural landscape and capture a sense of place, such as featured artist Martha Glowacki’s Earth and Sky, sculptured frames that focus on farmland and the sky.

If fermented foods and beverages are more your interest, you’ll find 30 classes in downtown Reedsburg where you’ll learn from the finest local chefs and fermenters how to make and then taste everything from hard cider, cheese and chocolate, to yogurt, kombucha, dry-cured sausage, kefir, wine, beer and sourdough bread. There are also classes about gardening and cooking with local foods.

Internationally renowned fermentation revivalist Sandor Katz of Liberty, Tenn., author of Wild Fermentation and the just published The Art Of Fermentation with a foreword by Michael Pollan, will speak throughout the day Oct. 20, 2012.

Hurry, most classes require registration, online or by mail, by Oct. 1, 2012.

Oct. 19: Sing Along Sound Of Music, 7:00 p.m. River Arts Center, Prairie du Sac, 15 minutes from the Inn. See the classic movie on the big screen in magnificent Technicolor and cinemascope and join a major audience participation event with subtitles for all the songs. Get ready to yodel and sing along during a funny and liberating evening. Details and tickets here.

Oct. 20: Friends Halloween Hike at Devil’s Lake State Park, 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. Meet at the north shore’s Rock Elm Shelter, five minutes west of the Inn, for a one-mile torch-lit hike followed by a bonfire with tasty treats for sale. Call 608-356-8301 ext. 140 or e-mail [email protected] with questions.

Oct. 20–21: Pumpkin Special Train Rides at Mid-Continent Railway Museum, North Freedom. Coach and dining service among the Baraboo Hills’ spectacular colors with a stop at the Quartzite Lake Pumpkin Patch.